The conflict between the Lokrians and Phokians, which was at the origin of the stalemate in the Corinth War (395-387 BC), gives the author of the Hellenika Oxyrhynchia the opportunity to dwell on the organisation of the Boiotian koinon. It is a digression describing the workings of the Boiotian federal system as it appeared in 395 BC, to be read in conjunction with the description of the internal political situation in Thebes in the same year (17.1-2). Aside from some physiological adjustments, this system was the one established in 446 BC, when Boiotia, freed from Athenian influence after the Battle of Coronea (447 BC), adopted the federal structure that remained in force until the dissolution of the league following the conclusion of the Peace of Antalkidas (387/6 BC). The nature of the union of the Boiotoi before 446 BC is a topic of debate. While some attempts have been made to downplay the political nature of the first Boiotian League, considering it a military alliance or a purely religious organisation, it is now more widely accepted that the Boiotians emerged as a politically cohesive ethnic group already around the end of the 6th century.
Supporting this hypothesis is the existence of federal magistrates, the boiotarchoi, attested at a relatively high chronological height not only by the literary tradition (Hdt. 9.15.1 about 479 BC), but also by recent archaeological findings (cf. Aravantinos 2010, for a bronze slab from a public treasury at Thebes; this inscription, as yet unpublished but displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Thebes, attests to the activity of a boiotarchos).
The Boiotian League of the Classical period succeeded in combining the tradition of local self-government with the aspiration for a federal structure that would increase Boiotia’s international weight and reduce Athenian influence. The federal model of an oplitic oligarchy reproduced the timocratic oligarchic constitutions by which the cities governed themselves locally. The Boiotians achieved this goal through the creation of a federal structure based on the proportional representation of league members in the central government. Boiotia was divided into districts, called mere, a sort of territorial subdivision that prioritised proportional representation in federal bodies over territorial unity and cohesion. According to the historian of Hellenika Oxyrhynchia, in 395 the Boeotian communities were divided into 11 districts: Thebes comprised 4 districts, Orchomenus along with Isie 2, Thespie with Eutresis and Thisbe 2, and Tanagra 1; the remaining 2 districts were divided between the communities to the south-west and south-east of Lake Copais.
In the absence of a primary assembly, the most important institution was the 660-member federal council, in which the representative principle worked. The citizenry was divided into four councils or boulai, each in turn responsible for dealing with the affairs of the confederation, thus exercising a de facto probouleutic function in relation to the other councils; the decisions of the incumbent council only became executive if they were unanimously approved by the other boulai. The principle of representation was also guaranteed in the other institutions. The federal court was composed of judges appointed in equal numbers from each district. Each district additionally provided a military contingent, consisting of 1,000 infantrymen, 100 cavalrymen and light troops, and elected a boiotarchos, who was responsible for the formation and supervision of the federal military contingents and the composition of the war council, which was accountable to the council. The functioning of the federal system was ensured by monetary contributions of the cities to meet the financial needs of the confederation.
εἶχεν δὲ τὰ πράγματα τότε κα[τὰ τὴ]ν Βοιωτίαν οὕτως· ἦσαν καθεστηκυῖαι βουλαὶ [τό]‖τε τέττα[ρες παρ’ ἑ]κάστῃ τῶν πόλεων, ὧν οὐ[χ ἅπασι] τοῖς πολ[ίταις ἐξῆ]ν μετέχειν, ἀ[λλὰ] τοῖς κεκ[τημένοις] πλῆθός τ[ι χρημά]των, τούτων δὲ τῶν βουλῶ[ν κατὰ] μέρος ἑκάσ[τη προκ]αθημένη καὶ προβουλεύ[ουσα] | περὶ τῶν π[ραγμά]των εἰσέφερεν εἰς τὰς τρε[ῖς, ὅτι] δὲ δόξε<ι>ε[ν] ἁπάσα[ι]ς τοῦτο κύριον ἐγίγνετο. κ[αὶ τὰ μὲν] ἴδια διετέλουν οὕτω διοικούμενοι, τὸ δὲ τῶ[ν Βοι]ωτῶν τοῦτον ἦν τὸν τρόπον συντεταγμένον. [καθ’ ἕν]δεκα μέρη διῄρηντο πάντες οἱ τὴν χώραν οἰκοῦν[τες,] | καὶ τούτων ἕκαστον ἕνα παρείχετο βοιώταρχον [οὕτω·] Θηβαῖοι μὲν τέτταρα<ς> συνεβάλλοντο, δύο μὲν ὑπὲ[ρ τῆς] πόλεως, δύο δὲ ὑπὲρ Πλαταιέων καὶ Σκώλου καὶ Ἐ̣ρ̣[υ]θρῶ[ν] καὶ Σκαφῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων χωρίων τῶν πρότερον μὲν ἐκείνοις συμπολιτευομένων, τότε δὲ συντε|λούντων εἰς τὰς Θήβας. δύο δὲ παρείχοντο βοιωτάρχας Ὀρχομένιοι καὶ Ὑσιαῖοι, δύο δὲ Θεσπιεῖς σὺν Εὐτρήσει καὶ Θίσβαις, ἕνα δὲ Ταναγραῖοι, καὶ πάλιν ἕτερον Ἁλιάρτιοι καὶ Λεβαδεῖς καὶ Κορωνεῖς, ὃν ἔπεμπε κατὰ μέρος ἑκάστη τῶν πόλεων, τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον ἐ|βάδιζεν ἐξ Ἀκραιφνίου καὶ Κωπῶν καὶ Χαιρωνείας.
At that time the situation in Boeotia was as follows. There were 4 councils established at that time in each of the cities. Not all citizens were allowed to share in these, but only those with a certain level of wealth. Each of these councils in turn sat and deliberated about policy, and referred it to the other three. What seemed acceptable to all of them was approved. They continued to run their internal affairs in this way, but Boeotian affairs were managed in the following way. All who lived in that area were arranged in eleven divisions and each of these provided a Boeotarch as follows. Thebes contributed 4 (two for the city, two for Plataes, Scolus, Erythrae, Scaphae, and the other places previously linked to them in one political entity but at that time subject to Thebes); Orchomenus and Hysiae provided two Boetharchs; Thespiae with Eutresis and Thisbae provided two; Tanagra one; and Haliartus, Lebadea and Coronea provided another whom each of the cities sent in turn; and in the same way one came from Acraephnium, Copae and Cheronea (translated by P.R. McKechnie – S.J. Kern).
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